Essay on Nuclear Accidents and Holocaust | Disaster Management

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Essay on Nuclear Accidents and Holocaust!

The nuclear plants which control the chain reaction to release energy steadily have their own demerits. They cause thermal pollution—the waste heat from the plants heats up the environment and release highly dangerous radiations into the environment.

(A) In 1945 sufficient amount of Plutonium was extracted and a bomb was made. The bomb was exploded on 16 July, 1945 in a desert in Mexico. The 30 m tower on which the bomb was placed completely melted; sand over several square kilometers melted.

The blinding light that spread for a few minutes turned the sun into a pale ball. Frightened to the core by the resulting blast, scientists vehemently opposed using it on Japan. President Truman, to save a few Ameri­can soldiers who might be the casualties in war with Japan, ordered dropping of the bomb on Japan.

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The “Little Boy”—the Uranium bomb was dropped on Hiro­shima on 6th August, 1945 which shook Japan and one lakh people were burnt in minutes like moths near a lamp. Just three days later, a plutonium bomb called “Fat Man” reduced Nagasaki into a desert with dead bodies strewn all over. Japan surrendered on 14th August, 1945.

The consequences of a bomb blast are:

1. Enormous amount of heat creating a temperature where any life cannot exist.

2. Devastating shock waves making earthquakes look like pygmies before them and

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3. Deadly gamma radiations.

The nuclear plants which control the chain reaction to release energy steadily have their own demerits. They cause thermal pollution—the waste heat from the plants heats up the environment and release highly dangerous radiations into the environment. The radioactive products present a serious problem of disposal. If any accident occurs in the plant, mass destruction of people in the neighborhood is inevitable.

High doses of radiation destroy tissues. Smaller radiation doses produce malig­nancy years after exposure. Genetic effects are visible in future generations. The cells which are constantly replaced are more susceptible to these radiations. The bone marrow is most important one in this case. Damage of reproductive cells shows abnormalities in future generations.

(B) April 27, 1986 was a tragic day in the history of nuclear power generation as a major accident occurred at an atomic reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine areas of former Soviet Union. This had resulted in clouds of radioactive smoke over a large area in Scandinavian countries about 2000 km away and in the Russian region itself.

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During the first 10 days after the explosion, over 400 million people were ex­posed to the radiation. Approximately 1000 were treated for radiation burns and sickness and over a 1, 50,000 people were evacuated from an area inside a 30 km range of explosion. The radiation levels in Western Europe reached 100 times the normal resulting in misery and panic death.

The exposure caused ulcerates skin, loss of hair, nausea and anemia. The death toll was expected to be more than 2000. The explosion in the atomic reactor and the subsequent fire was caused by failure of emergency cooling system in the light water graphite reac­tor, due to human error. The explosion and hot fire (about 2500 °C) blew large amounts of radionuclides high into the atmosphere.

It is expected that the heavy fallout from the mishap could damage Soviet agricultural output for years to come. The intense radiation has already killed several fields, trees, shrubs, plants etc. The immediate damage was put at 10 percent of the crop. The chronic health effects noticed include blood abnormali­ties, hemorrhagic diseases, thyroid changes, mutagenic and somatic alterations, bone narosis, skin cancer and lung changes.